To be worried about people over 70 who aren't really taking COVID seriously

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I'm really worried about friends and neighbours over 70. They seem to be the ones who are still out and about, going for papers and pensions, refusing offers of help and generally not wanting to make a fuss. I'm sure they think old people are someone else! How do we get across to them that it's really important? They also seem to think that we will all be back to normal next week !!

Wow, this thread has gone a bit weird since I last looked.

trapped I speak to very few people at present since I'm staying in. I'm making good use of the Facebook ability to snooze people though.

The Land Army is doing well for recruits, I doubt they need anyone over 60 offering to go and pick lettuce. They probably dont need the planes of people being flown in either.

Everybody is different and sometimes it is easy to assume that everyone over the age of 70 wants to live forever. Many of my clients are over 70 and there is a real mix of opinion between them. Some are not bothered at all about catching it, one who is 83 and now bedbound and doubly incontinent begs for me to visit on the offchance he might catch it as he wants to die. Another is 76 and says she doesn't understand why so much is being sacrificed for the elderly when they have had their lives. Another who is 85 and just had cancer treatment refuses to be told what to do. People's feelings are always complex and all we can do is take responsibility for ourselves.

Pocketem what is so awful about agricultural work?

I’ve certainly done a couple of seasons potato picking - good for core strength but no, not something I’d want to do long term. Then I wasn’t suggesting it long term. If I’d been made redundant, I’d do most things rather than nothing. I’m not likely to at the moment as busier than ever as a key worker (not frontline, but essential nevertheless).

I would certainly rather employ someone with the resilience and grit to work in a holdover job than someone who just moaned about how hard life was. They are more likely to get employment from employment. Nobody is saying it’s easy. Nobody is say your life’s ambition should be picking lettuces. It’s about doing something useful and generating income.

@cherrypavlova Pocketem what is so awful about agricultural work?

You do it. They've just had to fly in 150 Romanians yesterday to help with picking fruit and veg. Why don't you do it instead?

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-jobs-row-as-romanian-fruit-pickers-arrive-for-harvest-11974364

You just keep saying 'you do it then'.
Have you done it Pocketem? If so, did you find it awful then? It's not so bad for a season. Not for a career, quite obviously. My strawberry picking days was during a lovely summer, there was a real routine to it, and the pay wasn't bad for a 16 year old

Pocketem. I don’t need to do it. I have secure employment.

I feel very sad for many of those whose life has been ripped from under them but there are also opportunities for people to earn money. Not a huge salary. Not a long term career but perfectly acceptable for the young unemployed to do farm work, driving or work in retail.

Any work looks better than PlayStation experience. I certainly worked in retail as a teenager, I’ve been a chambermaid as a teenager and I’ve picked potatoes. All were quite good fun, but not where I wanted to end up. They gave me money when I needed it. Nothing more complicated than that.

The young are not significantly worse off than many older people. It’s about individuals not about cohorting and stereotyping.

During my teens and 20s I did stints as a chambermaid, a cleaner and a barmaid because needs must. My friends did the same. I can’t get my head round anyone with no income turning their nose up at any legal way of making money.

Exactly Cherry

I was a chambermaid too. I was only just 15 at the time too, and did a busy summer seaside season. It was a Fawlty Towers type establishment and the wife of the couple who owned it was pure Sybil.

Two of my DCs did summer work too... one took entry fees and served icecreams on a farm, when the farmer had made a maze from his crop. She enjoyed that. They loved the money, it was a lot at their age.

I don’t need to do it. I have secure employment.

"I'm alright Jack. I have plenty to eat. Are the peasants starving to death? Let them eat cake!"

Wilful twisting of pps’ words. No idea why you bothered with that little gem @pocketem, it just made you look a tit.